The Girl In The Iceberg
by Tari Silmarwen
Summary: Genderbend AU. She was untrained and hesitant, but she was going to save the world. And he would be there to protect her. Kataang
1. Book One: Water - Beginning

(A/N)- Yooooooooo!

Trying something a little different this time. This idea was nudged/coaxed out of me by ObeliskX (for which I'm very thankful, would never have had the motivation on my own). It is basically an excuse to explore Genderbent Kataang.

A few notes, before we begin:

1\. Only the kids have been genderbent, the adults are the same. Certain plot points were just not quite as workable in a fully genderbent universe.

2\. A few chapters will cover canon material, but I'm not going to limit myself to canon. So this isn't going to be a full rewrite of the show just with genders swapped. I want the freedom to go down different rabbit trails.

3\. Even with canon scenes, not everything is going to be 100% a transcript of the original show. Sometimes I'll stick pretty close (like with this chapter), but sometimes I won't.

4\. If there's a particular scene or scenario you want to see, feel free to request it.

With all that out of the way, let's get to it!

Disclaimer: It would be dangerous indeed if I owned Avatar. Very dangerous. Mwah-ha-ha.

* * *

 **Beginning**

The frigid air nipped at their skin as the boat drifted with the current. His sister sat up in the prow, bone spear poised over the water, staring intently at the little flashes of silver just underneath the surface.

"It is _not_ getting away from me," she muttered under her breath.

Katar sighed at her seriousness, leaning out a bit over the side. The fish were skittering around by the back of the canoe as well. Katar peeked back briefly at Sokki, but she was focused on her task. Nervous flutters pinged through him as he slipped one hand out from its thick fur mitten and extended it over the water.

There was a pull, a gentle tug, and then a wet pop as a small bubble of water, with a gleaming silver fish encased inside and swimming happily, burst from the surface.

Katar's heart leapt excitedly and he gave a whoop, both hands flailing, swirling around to try and keep the bubble together as he raised it above the boat.

"Sokki! Sokki I caught one!" he called. He turned with a grin to show her. "Look! I caught—"

Distracted, he didn't keep careful track of the bubble's path. As Sokki raised her spear to throw it, the end punctured the bubble's surface tension, dropping the contents onto her head. Katar heard her shrill gasp from behind him and by the time he'd finished swiveling towards the prow the fish and water bubble were gone and there was just Sokki, glaring at him with her hair dripping and her collar soaked.

"Oops," he said sheepishly.

Sokki shook out her arms, flinging droplets. "Why is it that every time _you_ play with magic water, _I_ get soaked?" she complained, setting her spear down and wringing out her hair.

"It's not _magic_ it's _waterbending_ ," Katar corrected irritably. "And it's-—

"Yeah, yeah," Sokki cut off, "an ancient art unique to our culture blah blah blah." She rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers I'd _keep_ my weirdness," she emphasized, "to myself."

"You're calling _me_ weird?" Katar said incredulously. He leaned back in the canoe, crossing his arms. "I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water."

Sokki had been leaning over the water, her sleeve pulled up, doing just that. She froze, flushing at having been caught doing something so unfeminine, and hastily yanked down her sleeve, rolling up and thwacking her brother's arm with her fist.

The canoe teetered with the motion, then all of a sudden seemed to bump against something in the water.

 _Thump!_

The water tribe siblings grunted as they were jostled, then found themselves streaking along rapidly, caught in a fast current and no longer gently drifting.

The peaceful arctic ocean was now a deadly maze of ice.

Sokki grabbed up her oar, digging hard into the water to try to push them out of it. The canoe thumped and grinded against sharp ice floes they barely managed to dodge. Several appeared directly in their path and Sokki jabbed the water forcefully to avoid it and send the boat to the right, only to find more obstacles dead ahead.

Pulse beating nervously, Katar grabbed both sides of the boat and leaned over his sister's shoulder. "Go left!" he yelled. "Left!"

If she attempted to steer in that direction, he didn't see or feel it. The canoe hit the ice floe head on. Pushed by the strong current, the prow dipped under the water's surface and disappeared.

The rest of the canoe followed seconds later, taking on water as it capsized, spilling the siblings out onto another floe.

Katar hit the ice and slid, almost all the way to the far edge. He held in his breath and dug in his mittened hands as he stopped, just short, of an unpleasant dunk into the icy water. The tension in his body held for a moment, then relaxed as he slowly pushed back from the edge.

He sat up with a sour look at his sister. "You call that left?" he said.

She rolled herself upright, annoyed. "Oh, you don't like my steering? Well maybe you should have..." She made sloshing gestures with her hands. " _...waterbended_ us out of the ice."

Katar fumed. She _knew_ he hated it when she mocked his lack of skill at bending. "Water-impotence" she sometimes called it.

"So it's _my_ fault?" he sputtered.

Sokki reached for her spear, the only thing that hadn't sunk with the boat. She was already dreading the long, treacherous journey home, empty-handed it looked like at this point, unless she could somehow manage to spear a fish or two along the way. The empty feeling gnawing at the pit of her stomach mingled with the quiet dread of explaining the lost canoe to their grandmother and the fatigue from the already too-long day. Maybe it wasn't fair to take it all out on her brother but she had already been in a bad mood before his little water bubble trick so she really, really didn't care.

"I _knew_ I should've left you at home," she grumbled. "Leave it to a _boy_ to screw things up!" She jabbed the tip of her spear into the floe in disgust. "Ugh! You guys are so _useless!_ "

Katar felt himself reach the boiling point. Sokki had been snappish with him all day and he'd had enough of it. He stood up, fists clenched by his sides, quaking with indignation. "You," he snapped at Sokki hotly, "are the most _man-hating_ , _immature_ , _nut-brained_ —" As he ranted his arms swung back angrily, sending the water spraying behind him in sharp bursts. "Ugh! I'm embarrassed to be related to you!"

A column of water hurled by Katar's ranting hit the base of a large iceberg behind them.

It gave a loud _CRACK!_ as it fractured, a huge fissure splintering up the left side.

Sokki had been ignoring her brother's outburst, but upon hearing the crack, looked up, startled, and gaped at the huge gash in the mountain of ice.

Her eyes widened in alarm.

Katar didn't notice, continuing to air his grievances. His words spilled out like he was an over-full sand sack that had just been punctured. "Ever since mom died, _I've_ been the one doing all the work around camp while _you've_ been off playing soldier," he vented, pointing at himself. "Pretending to be a warrior!" he spat.

The crack in the iceberg widened.

Sokki raised a timid hand. "Uh... Katar?" she squeaked, pointing fearfully.

"I do all the cooking, all the cleaning, I patch up all the nets—" Katar listed, smacking his right fingers into his left palm one by one for emphasis. "I even wash all the clothes!" His face soured at the reminder and his nose wrinkled, remembering something unpleasant. "Have you ever smelled your dirty socks?" he challenged her.

His fists clenched again.

" _Not_ —" he snarled, "—pleasant!"

His agitated gestures were once again accompanied by an ominous crack splitting through the iceberg behind him.

Sokki sat up on her knees, frantically holding up her palms to placate him. "Katar, calm down!" she cried, watching the splintering ice in abject terror.

"No!" Katar shouted, still angry. "That's it! I'm _done_ helping you! From now on, you're on your _own!_ "

The words were punctuated by a final blast of water that shot back to collide with the iceberg.

There was a rending and glass-like shattering as hairline fractures spread through the entirety of the giant chunk of ice.

His sister's expression paled and Katar finally turned around and saw what she saw: a mountain of ice breaking apart and threatening to come down on top of them. He gasped and took a step back but it was already too late. The hairline fractures were coming apart, splitting open and dropping chunks of ice into the water.

With a final crackling the iceberg crumbled, toppling, displacing the water and sending a huge wave towards them.

Katar and Sokki both flattened, grabbing onto the edge of the floe, Sokki throwing an arm across his back to help him stay on as they were nearly upended by the wave. Katar felt his heart stop and worried for a moment they were going to flip over, and join their sunken canoe.

But the wave subsided, after pushing them quite a distance, and the floe slid back to a level position and bobbed up and down dizzyingly.

It took a few moments more for his breathing to steady.

Sokki was the first to find her voice again.

"Okay, you've gone from weird to _freakish_ , Katar," she complained, uncurling from his side like he might be contagious.

Katar gaped at the conspicuous gap where the iceberg had been, at the choppy waves still subsiding. "You mean... _I_ did that?" he said. _All of that?_ he thought, astounded. _That iceberg was like thirty feet high!_

"Yep," Sokki confirmed. She sounded oddly... proud of him. "Congratulations," she teased, nudging him with her elbow and a giving him a smirk. "Guess you're not so impotent anymore, little bro."

He might have had a sour response to that but he didn't get the chance to dish it. A strange, bright blue glow had appeared in the water, just underneath them. Bubbles erupted from the surface, followed moments later by a large, florescent ball of ice.

The water it displaced shoved their floe back once again, and the siblings wobbled and tilted as they were rocked harshly by the waves.

They gasped up at the spherical ice chunk, bobbing up and down like some kind of giant fishing lure. It looked unnaturally formed, perfectly circular, and the eerie glow from within its center seemed to tingle in their hair, like the light itself was charged.

Slowly, Katar and Sokki got to their feet, mesmerized.

 _What_ is _that?_ Katar wondered. _How is it glowing?_

He took a few steps towards the edge of the floe, trying to get a closer look without actually getting close.

There was something within the iceberg, silhouetted by the light. A large hulking mass, with horns and a wide tail. And a second, smaller figure just below.

It looked like... but it couldn't be.

Was there a _person_ inside the ice?

Katar peered closer.

The figure certainly _looked_ human... Small, with gentle feminine edges. Curled up in a lotus position. A child?

He squinted, starting to make out the figure's features. It was a girl, long hair falling softly behind her back. She was as still as death at first, which is why it sent a jolt through Katar's heart when she suddenly opened up her eyes.

They glowed shockingly white, which should have frightened him, but all Katar could think in that moment was, _She'll suffocate in there!_

"She's alive!" he exclaimed. He reached back towards his sister, grabbing her arm and pulling her forward so he could draw the club strapped on her back from its sheath. "We have to help her!"

He had the club out and was hopping over the floes towards the iceberg before Sokki could blink or even register his actions. "Katar!" she yelled in frustration, turning only to extricate her spear from the ice. "Get back here!" she shouted, running after him. "We don't know what that thing is!"

Katar wasn't listening, already swinging his sister's club into the side of the glowing ice orb.

 _Crack! Crack! Crack!_

A hollow thud rang out with every strike. Katar put more force into it, using all his might. He had to get her out!

On the fifth blow, the head of the club broke through the ice's surface.

 _CRACK!_

There was a terrible hiss as air burst forth from the gap, tossing both Katar and Sokki back. The iceberg began to split up its center. When the cracks reached the top, the whole dome fell apart, throwing up a huge beam of blue light.

The beam shot up, dazzling, blinding, stabbing the sky as if it was a physical thing too long contained in the ball of ice, and Katar and Sokki felt the tingle of its power even more strongly.

It was such an odd sensation. Like hairs were standing up all over his body. Katar shielded his eyes until he felt the light subside. For a few more seconds it burned against his retinas, until his eyes adjusted and he could see clearly again.

Sokki had attached herself to his arm sometime during the blast. Her fingers were tight around his bicep but relaxed slightly as they shared a glance. The light around the iceberg was fading fast. The mountain was now a mound, with an open-top crater. Katar pushed up with his palms and stood, dragging Sokki up with him.

Her grip tightened on his arm and she raised her spear, pointing it towards the top edge of the crater.

The figure that had floated so still in the ice was moving, staggering upright, coming over the crater's edge. The stilted, awkward movement, along with her strange arrow-shaped tattoos—creepily glowing white like her eyes-made her look... frightening. Like some kind of angry spirit awakened from slumber. It made Katar begin to regret his decision to break the iceberg open.

Sokki brandished her spear as the figure stood upright, her other arm shoving into Katar's chest, trying to move him behind her.

"Stop!" she threatened, ready to throw her spear at the first sign of violence.

But all that happened was that the light disappeared from the girl's eyes and arrow-markings and she swooned, groaning softly as she pitched forward.

Katar's apprehension and fear vanished and he gasped, pushing past Sokki to catch the girl's small, fragile form before she hit the ground.

For being frozen in the ice, her body was surprisingly warm.

He held his breath, gently uncurling from around her.

Her eyes were closed; soft, fluttery lashes speckled with bits of snow. She was still slightly pale and blue from the ice, her skin chilly to the touch. She was tiny—couldn't have been much older than twelve or thirteen-and so very light. He was almost afraid of breaking her.

The blunt end of Sokki's spear came into view as she cautiously poked the strange girl in the head.

Once. Twice. A couple more times in rapid succession.

"Cut it out!" Katar snapped, throwing up his arm to ward her off. She wasn't _roadkill_ , for heaven's sake.

The girl in his arms gave a murmur, stirring. Katar turned back to her, anxious, very gently setting her down against the base of the crater.

Slowly, her eyes fluttered open. They were a pretty gray color, like stormclouds or the churning depths of the ocean. They widened and she gave a small gasp, looking up at him.

Katar felt some kind of warmth in his heart. No one had ever looked at him with such awe before. Like she was amazed to see him.

She spoke up, softly. "I need... to ask you something..." she whispered weakly.

"What?" Katar asked. She wasn't going to give him a last request and then die was she? That would just be awful.

Her next words did nothing to assuage his worries.

"Please... come closer..." she strained.

Cautiously he leaned down, offering a smile as he felt the strength of her breathing and how quickly she was already warming up. A little more reassured now, he asked her, "What is it?"

She was silent a moment. Then—

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?"

She lit up with a bright smile, eyes happy and hopeful, beaming at him.

Katar felt his heart give an unexpected dull thump and stutter, startled and caught off-guard. "Uh..." he stammered, feeling a slight burn in his cheeks and a weird queasy rolling in his stomach. "Sure? I—I guess?"

Was... she asking him on a _date?_

* * *

(A/N)- The universe has been established, the plot has been set in motion, and Katar has met girl!Aang and started to feel some very odd sensations in his chest area about her. I hope you enjoyed, dear readers!

Reviews keep a hungry writer going.


	2. Guardian

(A/N)- *drops chapter* Oh goodness me, where did that come from?

I wrote this in less than a day. Apparently I was on a roll. I do hope you enjoy dear readers!

Moving a little bit ahead, skipping past most of the events of "The Boy In The Iceberg" and "The Avatar Returns" (though some scenes are flashbacked to), to be a little introspective with Katar.

Anon Guest reviewer: Appa and Momo are right where they belong in the narrative. Appa was mentioned as being frozen last chapter, and we haven't picked up Momo yet, remember?

Anyway, let's get to it!

Disclaimer: Like I ever could.

* * *

 **Guardian**

Her name was Angka.

Not only was she an airbender—the first anyone had seen in a hundred years—but when the smoke belching iron Fire Nation ship cut a swath through the ice to their village, she had also revealed herself as the Avatar.

If he'd been a little awestruck about her before, he definitely was now.

 _The Avatar._ Sokki would always roll her eyes and groan whenever he'd wanted to talk about it.

"It's just a myth, Katar. If he _did_ exist he's probably long dead by now."

Sokki was right of course, it was irrational to keep hoping for some miracle savior out of legend, and some days it was hard even for him to keep believing. But he'd always held out hope that Avatar would return. Someday.

He'd been more than a little smug when he was proven right.

"So Sokki," he'd asked with a grin, right before they'd landed that morning, "is the Avatar a myth or isn't she?"

Exasperated, having been teased about it constantly since they'd left the Southern Water Tribe, Sokki just muttered, "You are never gonna let me live that down, are you?"

Katar's grin had cracked wider. "Nope!" he'd confirmed cheerfully.

"It's okay Sokki," Angka had encouraged, patting the girl's shoulder. "I wouldn't have believed in me either!" she'd chirped.

Sokki had grumbled something under her breath in reply and sulked right off to rinse her outer coat once they were back on the ground, refusing to speak to either of them ever since.

Katar peeked up at Angka, watching from across the camp as she played with her sky bison, Appa, untangling the snarls in his fur. She was so gentle with the animal, laughing and bumping her head against the bison's nose playfully.

Hard to believe just a couple days ago she'd been staring down an angry scarred Fire Nation commander and her squadron of troopers.

Katar had been shaking quietly in his boots the whole encounter, right from the moment Sokki had grabbed his wrist and pulled him into her guard tower.

"Come _on_ , Katar!" she'd urged. "We have to be ready!"

He'd gulped, gripping the hilt of the spear awkwardly. He hadn't held a weapon—not even a toy one—in ages. Not since their mother had died. He didn't have the hands for it, or the stomach, or the nerve. How could he? He'd felt like a clown in the warpaint and armor as they waited on the wall for the Fire Nation to arrive.

They'd had their asses handed to them. Of course they had. Young though she might have been, the girl captain was quicker, stronger, _ridiculously_ better-trained than either of them. Katar had been put down with one strike, Sokki's flailing over-eager swinging dodged easily.

"Pathetic," their opponent had hissed, standing over them with hands flaming, and for a moment Katar had been absolutely terrified.

But then a whirlwind had appeared, a streak of orange and yellow, and Angka slid into the fray on the back of a penguin—which seemed... so like her, really—spraying snow into the girl's scarred face, to exuberant cheers from the villagers.

She'd been completely fearless and calm, even as she'd willingly given herself up to save them.

Katar pulled himself from the memory, dropping his eyes and looking down at his hands.

She shouldn't have had to. He should have... should have done something. It had all worked out in the end but for that hour when he didn't know what had happened to her, whether the Fire Nation was taking her alive as a prisoner or summarily executing her at sea, he had felt and been so utterly _useless_ and once again it had to be Sokki to drag him out of it.

He felt ashamed. He should have protected her. Like he should have protected the village. Like he should have protected...

The sunlight gleamed off the blue shell pendant laying across his palm. Katar gazed at it, wondering idly when he'd pulled it out. His thumb brushed across the smooth surface.

"What's that?"

Katar jumped, startled, looking up and coming face to face with Angka, leaning over him with her waist bent and her hands tucked behind her back and her long hair.

"Uh, nothing," he stammered. "I mean, well..." He took a deep breath to sort his brain out. "It was my mother's," he admitted.

"It's really pretty," she complimented. Straightening up, her expression grew serious. "You said it _was_ hers... what happened to her? Or—" she quickly amended, seeing the look on Katar's face, "—would you rather not say?"

Katar folded the necklace in-between his hands soberly. "It's all right," he said, managing a weak smile. "She died when Sokki and I were little. The Fire Nation."

"Oh," said Angka softly. One foot curled around the other as sympathy shone from her face. "I'm sorry."

To change the subject, Katar glanced up and asked, "What about yours?"

"Oh, I don't really have parents," Angka said, looking embarrassed and rubbing behind her ear. "They often split us up by gender once we're weaned and we're raised by monks or nuns."

"Really?" Katar's face pinched, puzzled. He _had_ heard some stories about the Air Nomads living in temples but hadn't heard that most of them were raised there too. "Weren't there ever any kids with actual families?" he asked.

Angka stuck her arms out, walking an imaginary tightrope. "Yeah, a few," she told him. "Temple life wasn't always for everyone." She grinned. "We're actually pretty close to one right now, we should drop in for a visit." She hopped up on a boulder, reaching to scratch Appa's side. "I'll bet they'll be real surprised to see me!"

"Uh, I'm not sure that's such a good—" Katar started to say, then stopped himself, and backtracked. Angka was still slowly realizing the changed world she'd awakened to. In her mind, she'd just left home a week ago. How was he supposed to explain that no one had seen airbenders in eons and thought they were all dead? He didn't want to sink her hopes if he could help it. Besides, maybe there were still a few of them around, just really good at hiding. "Never mind."

"Great!" She beamed and then wafted herself up into Appa's saddle. "Once we're done resting we'll head straight there!"

"Sure. Okay," he agreed.

She busied herself playing with Appa again and Katar clenched his mother's necklace a little tighter.

He was such a coward. What good was he if he couldn't even bring himself tell her a little bad news? Did he even deserve to come with her to the North Pole? He couldn't fight and he wasn't even that good a bender.

 _...Yet._

The optimistic little voice pinched through his self-depreciating thoughts. Sure, he might not be very skilled right now, but he'd cracked an iceberg in half hadn't he? And he hadn't even been trying.

It was in him. He knew it. He could feel it. All it needed was a focal point, something to push for, orient around.

His fingers loosened around the pendant as he brought it up to his eyes. Maybe he hadn't been strong enough then. But he'd get stronger. He'd learn to fight.

Because... she'd need him.

 _That's it_ , he decided, standing up from the log he'd been seated on. _I'll become stronger._

And this time, things would be different.

He tucked his mother's necklace away, stowing it in his pocket. He'd put it back on later.

Right now, he needed to find some water to practice on.

* * *

(A/N)- Sokki is So Done with everything, Angka reveals her Messiah side, we've briefly met girl!Zuko (or as she's known in this AU, Zuka) and learned a little bit about Air Nomad culture and Katar's Mommy Issues, and Katar has made an internal Declaration of Protection towards Angka.

We're on a roll dear readers! :D

Drop me a note, let me know what you liked.


	3. Last Survivor

(A/N)- *drops two chapters* Oh would you look at that. How did that happen?

No seriously it was murder trying to work on this around my work schedule. But! I prevailed and now here we are. Enjoy dear readers! I know I did.

Disclaimer: Good gracious my brain hurts, what the heck did I do today? Anyway, still don't own the intellectual property I'm playing with.

* * *

 **Last Survivor**

"Where is everybody?" Angka wondered, as she wandered through the empty temple hall. Her footsteps echoed, her thin-soled shoes muted on the dusty tile. The silence was all but complete otherwise.

Any moment she expected to round the corner and run into one of the elder monks, or hear the distant laughter of the boys playing. But so far the only one they'd seen had been the cute lemur she'd decided was her new pet. (Assuming she got to it before Sokki did.)

Where were they all hiding?

She paused, putting a hand to her chin and thinking a moment, then snapping her fingers.

"I know!"

It was just a little after noon, right? That meant it was time for the midday meditation. They were probably all at the prayer field!

She rushed off, her feet light on the ground as she ran. They had really let the place go in her hundred-year absence, there was crumbling stonework and untended gardens everywhere.

She pushed aside a dusty cloth curtain, sneezing lightly. A bright grin found its way onto her face as she finally caught a glimpse of familiar orange fabric, and she was about to call out a greeting, the words on the tip of her tongue.

She stopped dead, the words faltering, dying before she spoke them.

Red, pointed armor and white bones littered the ground at her feet. The bodies of Fire Nation soldiers.

 _H...How...?_ came the dull thought inside her, as she stared, uncomprehendingly, at the scene of the massacre.

There were... so many...

Numbly, Angka raised her eyes towards the far end of the room. There was another body there, leaning up against the wall.

The body of an airbender.

Her knees felt weak but she was frozen to the spot, her eyes stinging.

Dead... He was dead. One of her people. Someone she'd probably known. Killed by the Fire Nation.

 _They **were** here..._she realized weakly.

"Got him!" came a distant shout from behind her. Angka didn't hear it over the rushing in her own ears.

She didn't turn around as Sokki entered, wrangling the lemur awkwardly as it scurried from one of her arms to the other.

"Slippery little guy, isn't he?" the Water Tribe girl quipped, grabbing the critter by the scruff with one hand as it ran across her shoulder. She looked up, and saw Angka standing still in the middle of the room, back turned towards her. Saying nothing.

Guiltily, she deposited the lemur into the crook of her elbow, holding it gently, her smile fading.

"Hey, you know I wasn't really gonna eat him, right?" she asked, as she came up to Angka. "I just said that to annoy..."

She trailed off, stopping next to Angka, seeing the dusty carnage.

"Oh... no..."

That... looked bad. A dozen or so Fire Nation corpses surrounded the skeleton of an airbender. There was no hiding it from her this time. Her brother's efforts to keep the truth from the little Air Nomad, however misguidedly noble, were over now.

...Was she okay?

Sokki looked to Angka, who was pale-looking, wavering slightly on her feet. She seemed in shock.

Her eyes were fixated on the body of the airbender, on the crest it wore. Memories were playing in her head, images of a warm, smiling face with a fuzzy white mustache, dark wrinkled skin that folded in soft ripples, a carefree chuckle, a gentle hand patting her head affectionately...

"It's... it's Monk Gyatso..." she whispered weakly. "I knew him... He was my friend... He was one of our strongest benders..."

She swayed heavily.

"If—if even _he's_ —"

Her voice hitched, a breathless sound that broke Sokki's cynical heart.

"Angka..." she said, with genuine sympathy and pity. "I... I'm so sorry."

She reached out her free hand towards Angka's shoulder.

Some warning tingle in the air had her drawing it sharply back.

Angka's tattoos were glowing.

Sokki gasped, dropping her arms, the lemur scurrying off somewhere as a rush of strong wind began swirling throughout the room. "What in the world?" she yelled, the force of the gale pushing her back.

Angka's back was stiff, her fists clenched, the light from her eyes and arrows blinding. Air swirled all around her, forming a tightly-wound ball of energy. Sokki found herself flung back, her face smashing on the ground as she bounced once, twice, grabbed hold of a piece of broken wall to hang onto.

The earth rumbled beneath Sokki's feet. Bits and pieces of the walls and roof flew past her head, a veritable tornado surrounding Angka, who floated silently in the center of the maelstrom, her face blank, tears streaming from her eyes. Sokki clung to her handhold with tight fingers, her hair whipping into her face.

Suddenly she felt her brother at her side.

"What happened?" Katar yelled in concern, shouting over the sound of the rushing wind.

"I don't know!" she cried, both hands clinging to the wall piece. "She just found out firebenders killed a friend of hers and started glowing!"

"It's her Avatar spirit!" Katar said, looking towards the floating girl with worried eyes. "She must've triggered it!"

Sokki wanted to groan. Of _course_ Katar knew _exactly_ what had happened, Avatar fanboy that he was.

He was already gone from her side, fighting against the winds and heading towards Angka.

"Where are you going, lunkhead?!" Sokki demanded after him.

"I'm gonna try to calm her down!" Katar said, not looking back.

Sokki ducked her head, her arms grabbing tighter to her handhold. "Well, make it fast! Before she blows us off the mountain!"

She _really_ hoped her brother knew what he was doing.

-ATLA-

There was a storm of air and energy crashing all around her, roaring in her ears, the faint sounds of yelling behind her, but Angka registered none of it. All she could feel was the hollow emptiness inside her, filled with pain.

Her glowing eyes stared out, unseeing. She couldn't feel her body. There was nothing in her thoughts, nothing at all except the horrible knowledge that what Katar and Sokki had been warning about must be true—that her people were all dead.

Faces passed in front of her eyes. Nun Choenyi, who had raised her like a daughter. Her friend Woten from the Northern Air Temple. Gyatso.

One by one, they seemed to vanish before her eyes, leaving only darkness.

Gone. All gone.

Every one of them.

The faces flashed faster and faster in her thoughts and her mind could only repeat, _Gone... gone... gone..._

The elders. Her playmates. The bison-keepers. Weird man Jiang who cleaned up the incense ashes with his pushbroom.

Everyone she knew.

Lost.

Her heart wrenched, tearing in two, and she wanted to curl up inside herself and never come out.

" _Angka!"_

From far away a voice seemed to call out to her. Angka stirred a little.

 _Katar...?_

His face appeared in her mind, vivid. She saw him as she had when she first met him, awakening from a strange and lonely darkness, the sense of something missing, some great hole in her heart washing away as she opened her eyes to the most beautiful boy she'd ever seen.

Bright blue eyes. A face full of concern.

The same concern that shone in his voice now.

"Angka, I know you're upset," he was saying. "And I know how hard it is to lose the people you love." There was a pain in his words, a slight tremor to them. "I went through the same thing when I lost my mom."

 _That's right..._ she thought. Hadn't he just told her that the Fire Nation had been responsible for his losing his mom?

So, they had that in common... at least... in a way.

"The other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family!" Katar was shouting above the wind. "Sokki and I... we're you're family now!"

The words made her want to cry, but for entirely different reasons than before. Some life was stirring in her broken heart again. She rather liked the idea of being a family with her new friends. Sokki was a little bit like a sister, wasn't she? And Katar... well she wasn't quite sure what he was yet, but the thought of staying by his side was very... comforting.

Almost before she realized it, her hands were unclenching, and her floating feet were descending towards the ground, the maelstrom around her subsiding. The wind died away. The ground settled. The storm within and without stilled.

She felt Sokki and Katar come up to flank her, and Katar's warm hand on her shoulder.

"Sokki and I aren't going to let anything happen to you," he told her, tenderly. "I promise."

He shot a look over Angka's shoulder at his sister.

"Uh, right! Right!" Sokki hastened to add, managing to smile genuinely nonetheless. "Nothing bad's happening to you on our watch, kid!" she promised.

With a soft sigh the glow faded from Angka's eyes. She felt all of sudden quite drained, her knees buckling softly under her.

Katar's arms were there to catch her. The rough texture of his fur-lined wool coat felt nice against her cheek, and he smelled of pitch and fish and oil. A strange scent, but one that seemed to suit him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. She hadn't realized it before in the fog of her grief, but now she could see that the building she'd found the bodies in essentially no longer existed, reduced to rubble by the force of her pain. She could've hurt Sokki or Katar very easily in her blind anger and despair.

"It's okay," he reassured her. "It wasn't your fault."

"But you were _right_ ," she strained out. Her throat threatened to constrict again. "And if firebenders found this temple, then they found the other ones too."

Her eyes welled up thinking about it, imagining the fountains and courtyards of the Eastern Air Temple scorched to ruins, the bodies of everyone she'd grown up with left to rot, forgotten.

"I really _am_ the last airbender..." she said.

Katar just wrapped his arms around her, holding her tighter, enveloping her in the smokey fragrance of his coat.

Angka gave a shuddering sigh.

For just a moment, while he hugged her, she felt like she was home.

* * *

(A/N)- Angka learns of the genocide of her people and has a rather destructive Heroic BSOD, which Katar brings her out of by reminding her You Are Not Alone. Also Sokki thinks air lemurs are actually kind of cute and definitely would not eat one. Probably.

Next chapter!


	4. Hollow

(A/N)- This was actually one of the first chapters I came up with, and since it would not let me _not_ write it (or skip ahead), here it is. Because delicious angst.

Disclaimer: Ha ha yeah right.

* * *

 **Hollow**

 _Warm, lazy sunlight beamed across her cheek. She rested her head on a soft lap, and gentle hands patted her hair._

 _Angka stared morosely at a little spotted leopard-beetle that was flitting around the cool green leaves of the mountain lily growing in a small vase on the table._

" _Don't worry," a woman's voice crooned to her, reassuringly. "Monk Gyatso promised me he'd look after you."_

" _It's not that," Angka sighed, raising her head and sitting up. "What if... what if I'm no good?" she asked. She looked down at her toes. "What if I can't bend the other elements?" she mumbled._

" _You will. You're the Avatar," Nun Choenyi encouraged. "It's in your very nature."_

 _Angka slumped against the woman's side. "It'd be easier if you were with me."_

 _Choenyi laughed lightly, wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulders. "My place is here sweat pea. And you will need to concentrate on your training. I'd just be a distraction."_

 _Angka clung to her, both arms tight around the woman's waist. "But I'll **miss** you!" she strained, feeling wetness blur her eyes._

" _Oh sweetie..." Choenyi cooed, taking Angka's face in her hands. "No matter where you go," she told her. "I'll always be with you."_

" _Promise?" Angka warbled._

" _Promise."_

 _Long, soft sleeves enveloped her, a heartbeat holding her close, a warm darkness that..._

-ATLA-

...melted into chilly night air and the musty leather saddle on Appa's back.

Angka started, blinking in disorientation a moment. She was curled up on her side, the gentle motion of Appa's lumbering breath raising her gently up and down. The night sky was moonless, only twinkling stars illuminating the sky.

She sat up, shivering, her limbs stiff. She wrapped her arms around her knees, staring off into space and trying to ignore the sudden ache in her chest, inhaling a shuddering breath.

"Are you okay?"

Angka gasped softly, startling. She looked over the side of the sabble. Katar was sitting up in his sleeping bag on the ground below, looking at her in concern.

She forced a smile to her face. "I'm all right!" she said, in an overenthusiastic happy chirp. With a swirling move of her arm and a puff of airbending she lifted herself from Appa's back and floated softly to the ground. "Just couldn't sleep is all," she shrugged. She pointed off with her thumb. "I think I'll just go for a walk."

Katar began to get up. "I'll come with you," he offered.

"No that's fine," she said quickly, the cheer in her voice starting to crack. "I'm not going far," she insisted.

He was already next to her, sky-blue eyes probing, like she was made of glass and he could see straight through her.

"It's okay to be sad," he told her. "You don't have to hide it."

"I'm not—" The false note and the denial caught halfway up her throat, which was suddenly tightening, choking her. Her lip trembled.

A quivering sob forced itself from her mouth and she looked down, her eyes brimming with tears.

Katar took her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. She sniffled softly, wetting the front of his chest.

"Hey... hey, it's okay," he assured her. "I'm right here."

"You won't leave?" Angka sobbed, voice muffled against his shirt.

He smiled. "I'm not going anywhere," he said. "Promise."

She exhaled shakily, gratefully resting her head on his collar bone as the hollow space inside her sharpened.

* * *

(A/N)- We get a brief glimpse of Angka's life at the Eastern Air Temple (to be revisited later in the chapter that covers "The Storm") and meet her airmom, and learn that Angka is becoming a bit of a Stepford Smiler to hide her grief.

(Seriously though, Aang took the genocide of his people remarkably well considering the next episode he was laughing and playing with giant koi fish, so I'm betting it was only one part genuine and one part deliberate mental distraction so he wouldn't wind up a blubbering puddle of angst.)

Also Angka is getting rather attached to Katar's chest, she should see someone about that.

Kyoshi warriors up next and boy oh boy am I looking forward to that!


	5. Prickles

(A/N)- *cough* So I know it's been a while. I apologize. Life was kicking my butt for a bit there and also one of my other stories completely took over my time and attention. I actually had this finished two weeks ago and just hadn't gotten to posting yet.

Mea culpa.

In any case, the long-awaited Kyoshi Warriors chapter is here! I'll let you get to it and talk about all the boring metatextual decisions and stuff in the ending Author's Notes. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Yeah, not seeing anything saying I own the series.

* * *

 **Prickles**

"Hey Katar?" asked Angka.

" _What?"_ Katar grumbled irritably, not turning around or looking up from the dishes he was furiously scrubbing.

Angka thumbed over her shoulder, expression concerned. "Your sister's being really weird about that Kyoshi boy, Suko?" Her eyes crinkled. "You think we should be worried?"

Katar scrubbed even more furiously at a particularly stubborn grease stain. "It's fine, Angka," he said through gritted teeth. "Sokki can do what she wants."

 _Even if she wants to fawn all over a pretty boy just because he's good with a sword,_ his inner thoughts grumbled.

Reading his foul mood, Angka turned her concerned look on him.

"This isn't about your argument yesterday, is it?"

Katar's scowl deepened at the reminder.

-ATLA-

 _There was a nip in the air, a frigid chill that had Katar concerned, given Angka's plan to take a dip in the freezing water._

 _Sokki's only concern was moving on._

" _Do we really have time for this?" she complained. "I thought we were going straight to the North Pole."_

" _Yeah but that's like, on the other side of the world right now," Angka pointed out, as she stripped down. Katar tried not to stare at her tattoos as her bare arms and legs were exposed. "We're here now and those koi are just begging to ridden!" she added with a grin._

 _Not swayed, Sokki crossed her arms sourly. "And the North Pole is going to **stay** on the other side of the world if we don't get moving," she pointed out._

" _Oh lighten up, Sokki," Katar chided, whapping her with one of the bedrolls. He turned his eyes on Angka again, his voice softening. "Let her have a little fun."_

" _That's all we've **been** doing!" Sokki protested. "I say, we skip all this nonsense," she said as she reached down, trying to gather up Angka's shirt and slacks in order to hand them back to her, "and focus on our mission_ — _getting to the North Pole." She emphasized the last part with not-so-hidden irritation._

 _Katar grabbed the clothes out of his sister's hands in aggravation. "Well, you're not the leader, I am," he said. He looked at Angka again, with a quiet swell of relief at how genuine her smile was, how undampened her excitement. There was no trace of the hollow emptiness behind her happy mask. He hadn't seen it disappear like this for days. "And I say we could use a little break," he added softly._

 _Sokki scoffed at him. "Since when are you the leader? Who decided that?"_

 _Rounding to face her he argued, "Look, I've been taking care of practically the whole village for ages."_

" _Mending blankets, cooking and cleaning, and watching children!" Sokki exclaimed. "That's not leadership, that's babysitting!" she protested. "If dad had left me in charge then—"_

" _Then you would have made a mess of everything!" Katar interrupted hotly, actual anger behind his words now. He was in no mood to be lectured on manhood and leadership by his sister. "You're not a warrior, Sokki, so just stop pretending to be one!" he spat._

 _He almost regretted his words when he saw the pinched sting on Sokki's face, but didn't have time to apologize before she was angry too, and shouting her own harsh indictments at him._

" _You're not a warrior either, Katar!" she yelled. "So don't get all high and mighty with me! At least I can fight!"_

 _Katar avoided her eyes guiltily. "I can... fight..." he mumbled, flustered._

" _You never fight! Not even when it matters! That's what's going to get people hurt!" Sokki yelled._

 _The weight of the unspoken meaning behind her words caused palpable tension in the air for a few seconds._

 _Angka had been looking awkwardly back and forth between the siblings for a while, sensing that there were more layers to this argument that just what had been said on the surface level, and quickly deciding she probably didn't want to know about it._

" _IIIIIIII'm gonna go ride the koi now," she announced._

-ATLA-

Of course not long after that they had been ambushed by Suko and the Kyoshi warriors and Sokki had practically fallen all over herself at the idea of a boy who could _fight,_ who was an _elite warrior,_ not at all like her _useless_ pansy wuss of a brother—Suko had been having a bizarre effect on his sister and her ability to hold a conversation; she rambled at a thousand miles an hour, babbling unceasingly, and hadn't taken much care to censor her unfavorable opinions about men.

Or more specifically, _him_.

Remembering that Angka had asked him a question, Katar resumed scrubbing and finally answered with a terse, "No."

"Okay, that's good!" Angka said, tone awkwardly light, like she knew whatever she said would be useless at helping him work through his foul mood. "I'm sure she doesn't really mean it, you know? I know plenty of guys who aren't fighters, and they're all great!"

"Good for you," slipped out of his mouth in a dry grumble before he could stop it. He understood what she was trying to do, he really did, but Angka couldn't understand the kind of culture he'd grown up in, the expectations and pressures a young man like him faced in a decidedly non-pacisfistic society. The expectations Sokki held for him, that he consistantly failed to live up to, had been failing to live up to ever since...

He fell silent, focusing on the soft clink of dishes and the slosh of water.

Angka watched him for a few more moments before giving up and declaring, "Well, I'm gonna go. Koda and the boys are gonna show me around."

Oh, and then there was _that._

Katar tried to keep his voice impassively disinterested as he said, "Fine."

"Bye!" Angka called, entirely too brightly and chipper for his liking.

 _Like any of them would even care if you weren't the Avatar or pay you the time of_ —

Katar stopped washing, leaning his hands on the edges of the basin with a long sigh.

This was ridiculous.

Sokki was right, much as he hated it. If he were stronger, tougher, like their father, he could have fought Suko and the others off when they'd gotten ambushed. He would be able to just walk right up to the group of clingy hangers-on that Angka had so recently acquired and tell them all to back off and leave—

Aaaaand he stopped his train of thought right there, before he could feel even more stupid. Spirits he was pathetic. Feeling insecure because of a bunch of kids fanboying their hero. It wasn't like he could blame them. Angka _was_ pretty amazing. If he wasn't so busy stewing over Sokki dragging him in front of Kyoshi's esteemed warriors he might have joined in and just followed the group around as they toured the island.

Katar dropped his scrub brush into the basin and turned to head for the door. Dishes weren't helping anymore.

 _I need to go practice my bending or something_ , he thought.

-ATLA-

And yet, an hour later, here he was sitting on one of the wooden porches, still moping and feeling sorry for himself.

He sighed again. What was _wrong_ with him?

He hadn't seen Angka or her fanboys in a while. Last he'd heard from them, Koda was tugging on her arm begging for a ride on Appa. Presumably they'd gone outside the village to do just that.

There were rustling footsteps in the grass just behind him.

"Uh... Hey Katar," came Sokki's voice, sounding reluctant to talk to him.

Katar pulled his legs up to his chest and hugged them. "Thought you were trying to play swords with the Kyoshi warriors," he said. Less snarkily, he asked, "Where've you been?"

Sokki's footfalls sounded on the wooden steps of the porch and then she was sitting down next to him, folding her skirt beneath her.

"I, uh... I made a fool of myself in front of Suko," she told him, cheeks flushing as she remembered the embarrassment. "I don't think he'll be eager to see me again."

Katar chuckled. "Couldn't take your self-taught Water Tribe techniques, huh?" he teased.

"No it's not—well okay yes, that too but—" Sokki conceded, stumbling over her words. She stared at a tuft of grass on the ground near the edge of the porch, Suko's chiding words echoing in her ears. She didn't even remember what she'd been saying, she was just babbling on about being the _real_ warrior of their family—trying to make excuses for how miserably she'd failed to spar against him—and Suko had just suddenly come out with a harsh, _"Why are you so hard on your brother? There's nothing wrong with a man who doesn't like fighting."_ He'd folded stern arms over his breastplate and said dismissively, _"Maybe stop treating him with such contempt and I'll consider you worthy enough to teach."_

It had made her insides sink, made her want to dig a hole and pile dirt overtop her head to hide from the shame. And she'd been dragging that guilt around since leaving the dojo.

She took a deep breath. "Look, I..." she began, looking at her brother. "I just wanna say... I'm sorry. I've been really harsh to you about the whole not-being-a-good-fighter thing."

"It's okay..." Katar mumbled, nose in his arms and avoiding her eyes.

"No, it really isn't. I've been a jerk," Sokki insisted. "You're right, I'm not the warrior I like to pretend I am. It isn't fair to make fun of you when I'm not any better."

Katar finally sidled a glance at her. "What brought this on?" he asked.

She shrugged, flushing again and finding the grass tuft very interesting. "Just something Suko said."

For a while the two siblings sat in silence. Then, Sokki straightened up.

She looked around. "So... where's Angka?"

"Haven't seen her." Katar drooped his head into his arms "She's probably still somewhere showing off for those boys."

His sister peered at him curiously, tilting her head. "Are you... jealous?"

" _No_ ," Katar denied at once.

"Of a bunch of ten-year-olds?" she asked incredulously.

"No!" Katar huffed and tightened his arms sourly and tried looking everywhere but at her. "That would be... stupid," he muttered.

Sokki grinned knowingly. "Yeah, it would be," she said.

Katar sighed. "I should probably go look for her though," he decided, uncurling and standing up. "See if she's all right."

He was halfway down the steps of the porch when he stopped and turned back to Sokki.

"You know... I bet Suko would give you another chance if you asked him nicely."

She wrinkled her face at that, uncertain. "You think?"

Katar smiled. "Just don't let your big ol' mean warrior ego get in the way," he teased.

"Right," she said, shrinking into her shoulders with embarrassment.

-ATLA-

It was lucky that he'd gone looking for Angka when he did. For some reason, she'd accepted a dare from one of the boys to go ride the Unagi—a nasty-tempered sea serpent that had rudely interrupted Angka's delightful water romp with the giant Kyoshi koi the other day.

The Unagi hadn't shown at first, prompting the bored boys to wander off, but all too soon after Katar had gotten to the scene showed its ugly face.

And then the Fire Nation had shown up too.

Heart in his throat, Katar clutched Angka tight to his chest as he waited for the rhino-mounted firebenders to move on. The clumping footsteps of the lumbering creatures slowly faded from hearing.

Letting out a shuddering breath, Katar uncurled Angka's body and laid her out flat. She'd taken a nasty hit from the Unagi's tail and didn't seem responsive. He tried not to panic, reaching a hand over her chest to check if she'd inhaled any water.

He could feel some responding to his grip. Carefully, he drew it out of her lungs and up her throat, relieved when Angka immediately coughed in response.

Her eyelids lifted and she blinked, blearily. "Katar..." she rasped. "Don't ride the Unagi. Not fun."

"I can imagine," he joked, smiling in spite of the close call. His nerves shuddered in relief, the frantic pace of his heart beginning to calm. He reached out to offer her his arms. "C'mon. That was Zuka's ship. She's probably on her way to the village right now."

Angka looked stricken at that, a horrified expression flashing across her face. She hurried to retrieve her clothes, tangling them in an effort to get them back on her body as quickly as possible. Katar had to come help straighten her shirt before they both took off running, heading back for the village as fast as they could.

Zuka was in the middle of the street, surrounded by tiny burning fires and temporarily downed Kyoshi warriors, when they arrived.

"Hiding like a scared little girl behind your bodyguards? Come out and fight, Avatar!" she shouted in challenge, her harsh gold eyes flashing with fury.

Katar shuddered, but Angka wasted no time in confronting the Fire Nation princess.

"I'm not hiding!" she declared. "I'm right here!"

Zuka looked almost relieved a moment, before her eyes hardened determinedly and she was sending fireballs sailing through the air towards the airbender.

He _hated_ to stand by and watch Angka face the girl alone. But Koda and another boy were tugging fearfully at his clothes, cowering behind him. Katar turned around and scooped them both up, tucking low and bounding up the steps to one of the huts. He glanced back as he set the boys down.

He needn't have worried so much. No sooner had Angka gotten her hands on a pair of fans—one of the signature weapons of Kyoshi, an accessory to the light, aerodynamic swords they carried—then the fight was over. Zuka was blown comically into the side of a building by a gust of strong wind. The sight was so funny Katar forgot how intimidating the Fire Nation princess was.

"Get inside!" he whispered to the boys nonetheless, pushing them towards the open door and shelter, where a handful of other villagers were already hiding.

When he turned back again Angka was beside him, looking sadly at the smashed buildings and the fire licking up Avatar Kyoshi's brightly-painted statue, the Fire Nation soldiers futher down the street, battling the Kyoshi warriors atop their rhinos.

"Look what I brought to this place," she said miserably.

"It's not your fault," Katar assured her.

She shook her head. "Yes it _is_ ," she insisted. Her eyes were full of despair. "These people got their town destroyed to protect me!"

Katar inhaled slowly, accepting the truth in her words, and said, "Then... let's get out of here. Zuka will leave Kyoshi to follow us."

 _Running instead of fighting. Again_ , came the thought, unbidden, to him.

He drowned it out by saying, "I know it feels wrong to run, but I think it's the only way," half trying to convince himself of it.

Angka seemed to agree with him, her shoulders slumping. "I'll call Appa," she said.

They shuffled out of sight of the main street, behind one of the buildings. The giant air bison came at once when Angka yelled for him, and with a quick boost up from Katar, she was quickly in the pilot's seat.

Katar scrambled up into the saddle a little awkwardly, then had a sudden panicked thought.

"Wait—!" he said, looking around frantically. "Where's Sokki?"

Angka peered over Appa's back, towards one of the rear porches. "I think that's her," she said, pointing.

Katar almost had to double-take. What he had thought were two Kyoshi warriors huddled together in conference were in fact Suko and his sister, and she was decked head to toe in the same green and gold as him, distinctive white facepaint plastered on her face. He was just pulling away from her; her hand was on her cheek and she was staring back at him as if stunned. He heard Suko ribbing her playfully to go, and with that, the boy disappeared around the corner.

Sokki stood, turning and climbing up Appa's tail, and Katar gawped at her once again.

"Sokki?" he said in disbelief.

"Yeah?" she said.

He couldn't help it. Katar covered his mouth to stifle a giggle.

"Are you... wearing a _dress?_ " he asked.

Sokki flushed immediately bright red underneath her white makeup.

"Yes I'm wearing a dress!" she snapped defensively. "What's wrong with that?! I can wear dresses! _I am a girl you know!_ " she practically screeched.

"It looks good, Sokki!" Angka chirruped helpfully, snapping the reins. "Appa, yip yip!"

Sokki staggered a moment as the air bison lurched beneath her, but took her seat with a hot face, shrinking into the silken shoulders of the Kyoshi warrior robes and pointedly avoiding looking at her brother.

"Sorry Sokki I just..." Katar chuckled again. "You _do_ look nice." He took a seat next to her, curling his arms around his legs. "Soooo... I guess you smoothed things out with Suko, huh?" he teased.

Her hand drifted back up to her pale white cheek, rubbing the spot self-consciously. "He says I've got promise..." she murmured. "So thanks, you know," she said, ducking her head. "For the advice. And... sorry for being up your butt again."

Katar nodded to accept her apology. For now, it would be enough to mend the tension between them. "You're forgiven," he told her gently.

-ATLA-

Angka's heart warmed privately as she listened in on their conversation. Things had been off kilter in their trio ever since setting foot on the island. Part of her had wanted to get all the way down to the roots of the conflict between the two siblings—clearly a philosophical disagreement about the societal roles of men and women wasn't all of it—and part of her was just a little bit terrified that if she did, her new little found family would break apart at the seams. The past two days had been extraordinarily awkward for her, overthinking everything she said, feeling like she was walking on eggshells. Showing off for the other kids had been all too welcome a relief. Katar was not fun to be around when he was grouchy.

But now, she thought giddily... his smile was back. The tension was gone from his shoulders. Even when she'd abruptly rolled herself off Appa's head to drop into the water below, bring the Unagi to the surface to get it to spray water across the rooftops of the village, putting out the fires, he'd merely agreed with her calmly once she was back in the saddle that it had been a dangerous and reckless thing to do, before wrapping his arms around her in a surprise hug.

She gasped happily, a dozen nameless thrills shooting through her. She closed her eyes, sighing in contentment until he eventually pulled away.

It was good to have Katar back. Even Sokki seemed to be less abrasive. Softer, somehow.

"You know," she was saying. "Suko taught me a few things... a few techniques I could show you... if you want."

"Really?" he said in surprise. " _You'd_ teach _me_ how to fight?"

She shrugged. "It's what we both want." She slung her arms on her knees casually, ruby-coated lips spreading in a grin. "Might as well do it together."

"You guys are so much more fun when you're not fighting," Angka commented as she headed back up to Appa's head to retake the reins. "Next stop, Omashu!"

A sense of satisfaction settled over her as she snapped the reins, steering Appa off into the sun.

Her family was back to normal.

* * *

(A/N)- Sokki and Katar butt heads over gender roles, Katar grumps around totally not being jealous, Sokki gets very flustered by handsome Kyoshi boys and gets a bit more in touch with her feminine side and also sort of starts to balance that with her desire to beat people's heads in, and Angka just really really wants everyone to get along please.

So! This chapter was kind of a challenge to figure out at first. I didn't want to do a straight genderflip plot reversal because for one it would be boring and for two, with the ingrained backstory I have for Dude!Katara and Girl!Sokka, it just wouldn't mesh with their characters well. Sokka said dumb sexist things because, well... he was just kind of an ass. Sokki's misandry I wanted to stem from something a little deeper. So I decided her negative feelings about men should be because of Katar's failings in particular... because she unconsciously blames him somewhat for their mother's death. And he sort of knows this too, which adds to his own guilt complex and feelings of inadequacy about the whole matter. This is something I'm actually really excited to keep exploring and eventually resolving between the two as this fic goes along.

Kyoshi Warriors are mostly unchanged, save for upgrading their primary weapon to a sword and relegating the fans to secondary accessory weapons.

Not quite as much Kataang content as in previous chapters but hey, the kids are at that awkward stage where they don't know what they're feeling yet. All Katar knows is that he's inexplicably shy about seeing Angka without her shirt on. XD

Thank you for reading and please review!


	6. Crazy

(A/N)- *sneaks in and revives fic*

HAPPY NEW YEAR, my resolution is to update much more frequently on this baby. I've set a daily word goal of 150 words, on anything currently in-progress, and it seems to be working out really well. We'll see if I can keep up this pace.

Disclaimer: As per tradition it is my duty to inform you, in humorous fashion, that I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender and make no profit off this fanfiction.

* * *

 **Crazy**

Flopsy was bouncing happily around the pen, giving licks to a giggling Angka. He watched nervously from the balcony, still not entirely sure the giant... _whatever_ it was wasn't going to turn around and bite her head off.

Sokki was busy dunking her head in a bowl of water, complaining all the while about sugar rock particles stuck in her hair. And the old Earth King was just cackle-snorting and taking large bites out of leaves of lettuce.

...It had been a weird couple of days.

Katar rubbed the hand where the creeping crystal ring had been attached. Even though he and Sokki had apparently never actually been in any real danger, he couldn't shake the creepy feeling of having been helpless, _again_ , unable to aid Angka as she faced the mad king's trials.

It was starting to become a bad habit. Katar had thought his waterbending skill would be progressing faster with all the work and effort he'd been throwing into it. But he still wasn't strong enough to be any good in a fight.

Katar peeked over at Bumi. He was wearing his robes again, hunched over, the silken fabric hiding the sinewy muscles beneath.

For an old man he was surprisingly cut.

"Are you staring at me, young man?"

Bumi's voice alerted Katar to the fact that he was gawking a little too obviously. Facing forward quickly, Katar blurted out a nervous, "No sir!"

"Well why not? I think I happen to be very interesting," demanded Bumi, in a tone of voice that made Katar very confused as to whether or not the man was joking.

"Uh..."

Bumi's wrinkled face broke into a grin and he let out one of his distinctive cackles. "Heh heh. You should see the look on your face."

One of the king's trim arms landed around Katar's shoulders, and Katar was almost bowled over by the strength of the gesture.

"Don't worry about it, kid. I know I'm funny-looking."

Katar gave a strained smile, uncomfortably glancing around to see if there was a way to extricate himself from this conversation.

The king's aids were standing silent off in the corners and Sokki was muttering as she wiped her mouth. No help there.

Angka was still playing with Flopsy. Katar swallowed as he watched her, sliding a look towards Bumi. His mind replayed the battle the Earth King had given her, how relentless and powerful his attacks were, how amazingly strong he'd revealed himself to be.

"So... you're pretty good at fighting," he said, and then immediately flinched at how awkward he sounded.

"Pretty good!" Bumi guffawed. His eyes sobered and he poked a stern finger into Katar's collar. "I'm one of the best, and don't you forget it!"

Clamping down on his nervousness at the man's intense stare, Katar pressed forward. "You wouldn't happen to have any advice for a novice self-taught waterbender-in-training would you?"

The grin returned to Bumi's face. "Nope!" he said. "'fraid not! Waterbending's not my area of expertise. I know someone though. A master at the North Pole." He turned away, stroking his beard, his eyes scrunching in confusion. "Now what was his name?" he wondered aloud.

"I just hoped... I mean... I'm trying to get better at..." Katar stumbled over his words for a moment or two, then just gave up and finished, "Never mind. It's not important." Clearing his throat, he put his hands on the rails and changed the subject. "I still can't believe you were friends with Angka a hundred years ago," he marveled. "Is she still pretty much the same as you remember or...?"

Bumi smiled fondly. "Hasn't changed a bit." He pulled another lettuce leaf out from his sleeve, waving it around as he spoke. "Oh the stories I could tell! Wild rascals we were, always getting up to something or another. You know she had _quite_ the little crush on me when we were younger..."

Katar had a brief moment of irrational internal panic. "Uh... she did?" he squeaked.

"Kidding!" Bumi cackled, dissolving into a fresh burst of hacking laughter. "I'm just kidding! Nah, I was never her type. Thicker than thieves we were, but not much into that icky mushy stuff."

"Oh good..." Katar breathed to himself.

A hand fell on his shoulder and Katar found himself turned to face Bumi, the old king's expression stone-cold serious, burning with conviction.

"You take care of her now, you hear?" he said. "Angka's plenty capable of handling herself, but there's a lot of people out there that don't want it known that the Avatar has returned." The fingers tightened on his shoulder. "She's going to need friends she can count on these coming days. Friends she can trust. Can you be that for her, sonny?"

His nerves were fluttering, but he straightened up a bit and answered at once, "I will."

"That's the spirit!" Bumi crowed, grin stretching his face again. He offered something out to Katar. "Rock candy?"

Katar grimaced down at the greenish gem-like treat. "I'll pass."

Bumi shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, biting off a large chunk and then whistling to Flopsy and tossing the pet the rest.

* * *

(A/N)- Katar and Sokki meet Angka's childhood and are not entirely sure they like him. Bumi trolls Katar and charges him with protecting the Avatar. Guess he better hurry up and get good at waterbending, lol.

Bumi was a ton of fun to write. And of course it's always a blast to have Katar being super awkward.

Hoping to update again in a couple weeks. Please leave a review if you enjoyed.


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